Highest bidder

The listing of dozens of KU basketball tickets for sale on eBay apparently doesn’t sit well with athletic officials.

After instituting a points system that makes monetary donations to the Kansas University Athletic Corp. a key element in the allocation of seats in Allen Fieldhouse, the KUAC board now is chastising ticketholders, and particularly faculty ticketholders, for selling their basketball tickets to the highest bidder.

KU faculty and staff members were singled out in last week's discussion because they receive a 20 percent discount on their basketball tickets. They are buying discounted tickets, KUAC Board Chairman Mike Maddox said, and then selling them at a profit "on eBay or on the street."

"If people can't use them," added Athletic Director Lew Perkins, "we encourage them to give them to friends, but if anybody wants to sell them, turn them back. We'd rather not see them on eBay or at a local ticket agency."

To reinforce its stand, KUAC also plans to crack down on ticket scalping around Allen Fieldhouse. Selling tickets for more than face value is legal in Kansas, but not on state property.

How ironic that after instituting a plan that requires a great many ticketholders to pay a surcharge to be eligible to buy tickets, athletic department officials want unused tickets to be turned over to them so they can be sold to someone else. Talk about scalping!